


No Hero

by deepestfathoms



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Blood and Gore, Brainwashing, Evil Joan, Gen, Henry is a snake, Kidnapping, Magic, Major Character Injury, Temporary Character Death, Violence, villain AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-19
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24264193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestfathoms/pseuds/deepestfathoms
Summary: When Joan harnessed the power of the Moonstone and Crown of Thorns and turned into the monster she now was, she trapped Jane in the theater with her. Kitty is now determined to get her mother back.
Relationships: Katherine Howard & Jane Seymour
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	No Hero

Ever since reincarnation, Kitty has been afraid. Afraid of the change, afraid of touch, afraid of men. But it has gotten easier when she had Jane at her side. Jane, who had supported her and soothed her and comforted her for so long. Jane made things okay.

But now she’s gone. Kidnapped. Locked away in the ruins of the theater.

Jane had been Kitty’s hero. And now she was going to be hers.

However, as she touched her belly and felt sticky warmth blooming across it, those plans were looking bleak.

“You—” Kitty sputtered, blood splattering from her lips. She held desperately to the entrails pushing against the wound’s opening. “You took my guts out.”

The creature perched on one of the several stalagmites growing through the auditorium hummed. The half light made the blood on the wicked claws glisten.

“I’ve always wondered what you were like on the inside,” It said.

Kitty coughed and crumbled to her knees, hugging tightly at her stomach. She could feel her intestines trying to push their way out of her. They squelched against her arms.

“How sad.” Joan mused. She produced a copper wristband with three tiger’s eye orbs pressed into the metal and threw it down to Kitty. “Put that on if you want to live.”

Kitty glared at her. “Like I would trust you.”

Joan shrugged. “Then bleed out and die. Like I care.”

Kitty gritted her teeth, then snatched the bracelet up. When it’s clasped around her wrist, she gasped at the strange, ticklish sensation of her organs slithering back into place like resurrected eels. The wounds close and knit themselves back together, only leaving behind three pale white scars that stretch across the expanse of her stomach. She looked at it in shock.

“Now,” Joan said, climbing onto the stage. “Do you want tea?”

—

There was a knife wedged in between a loaf of bread on the bar table. Standing in what used to be the break room, Kitty eyed it as Joan rummaged through a cabinet. She kept looking from the blade, to the monster, and then back to the blade until she finally gathered the courage to grab it and aim the tip at Joan’s neck.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Joan hummed as she heard the knife clatter to the floor. Her tail flicked back and forth, hearing Kitty gag helplessly. “I’m just trying to get you some tea! How rude.” She emerged from the cabinet and smiled at the girl foaming at the mouth, viper fangs sunk deep into her throat. “You should know that I wouldn’t let my guard down that easily.”

Henry released Kitty and she keeled over, seizing violently. He gave her a look of disgust then slithered over to Joan, up her tail and waist, and settled around her shoulders.

“Silly girl.” Henry said.

“Indeed.” Joan agreed.

Joan began to prepare the tea as Kitty continued to spasm and froth until her enchanted bracelet eventually saved her from death for a second time. She hobbled to her feet, using the bar table for support, and scowled at the two monstrosities watching her patiently.

“Don’t give me that look,” Joan rolled her eyes. “You were the one who decided to try and attack me.”

She turned back from the counter with three ebony cups of tea in her hands. She sat them down at the table and took a seat at one of the stools. Kitty joined her after a moment and she gave her a believable friendly smile.

“Drink,” She gestured for the cup. “It’s not poisoned, I promise.” She brought her own cup to her lips.

“Who’s that one for?” Kitty nodded towards the third cup.

“Who do you think?” Henry said. He slithered down from Joan’s neck and flicked his tongue at the tea inside his glass, not at all phased by how hot it was.

“You thought it was for Jane?” Joan guessed.

“Where is she?” Kitty demanded.

“None of your concern.” Joan answered smoothly. “Just know she’s safe and happy.”

“How could anyone be happy with you?” Kitty growled.

For a moment, Joan’s eyes became very cold. She narrowed them at Kitty, flashing her sharp teeth for a moment, then took a deep breath and calmed down. Her talons remained clenched around her cup, however.

“Believe it or not, I’m great company.” She said. “Not everyone is miserable when they’re not with you.”

Kitty glared at her. Joan merely flicked her tail and took another sip of her tea.

“I’ve noticed something,” Joan said conversationally. “You and I, we aren’t that different. Young, smart, had things stolen away against our will, always seeking approval touch starved- to name a few. You want to change things. You want to make things better, back then and right now, but not just for you. For people who went through the same thing you did. You want to save them. And you could do it, you know, if you had the chance.”

“I’m nothing like you.” Kitty hissed. “I’m not a monster.”

“Not a monster,” Henry suddenly cut in. “A _god_.”

A shiver ran down Kitty’s spine. She leaned back in her stool, suddenly feeling even more unsafe—if that was even possible.

“Yes,” Joan smiled at her scaly companion and he smiled back—a genuine smile, Kitty realized. It was truly friendly and not malicious at all when pointed at the ex-music director. “A god.” She turned back to Kitty, resting her talons flat on the table. “And you could be one too, you know.”

Kitty opened her mouth and then shut it firmly, actually considering such a thing. Her. A god. It made her dizzy from all the possibilities shoving their way into her head. Joan noticed this and chuckled.

“It would be amazing, wouldn’t it?”

“It…it would.” Kitty admitted. She quickly shook her head, however. “This is a trick. You’re trying to get me to turn against my family or use me as your slave or kill me horribly!”

“Howard, I am ten times stronger than you’ll ever be.” Joan said. “I could do any of that anytime I wanted to without a problem. But have I?”

That was very true, Kitty really uncomfortably.

“You—you cut open my stomach!” She tried to protest.

“You came barging into my palace with a sword aimed at my head!” Joan reprimanded, her tail lashing and shoulder quills rising. “I was startled!” She settled, although it was obvious she was thoroughly amused. “Where did you get that sword anyway? I thought they would have been banned from your household. What with the way Boleyn died and all.”

Kitty sulked in her stool for a moment, trying to figure out a way to get out of this. Joan waits patiently for her, entertaining herself by conjuring up a cloud of gemstones that swirl above her palms like a shimmering whirlpool made of minerals. She smiled softly at them, watching the emeralds and rubies and sapphires and amethyst whorl around together.

“Why are you even offering me anything?” Kitty finally asked. “Why share your power with me when you could just simply kill me right now?”

“Because I don’t just want power,” Joan said exasperatedly. “I also want to have real friends that actually care about me. I want my happily ever after.”

“Then why me?”

Joan looked up from her gemstone tornado to raise an eyebrow at Kitty. A tiny grin quirked on her lips.

“I find you quite infuriating, yes. I am very jealous of you.” She admitted. “But it wasn’t always that way. Back in our first life, I thought you were a wonderful queen, despite the circumstances. And in the beginning, I believed we could be friends. But then you got in my way of Jane…” She plucked a pink diamond out of the galaxy and sent it spinning on its own axis in the air. “Well. I became a little envious.”

Kitty was surprised to feel guilt welling up inside of her. Had she been the reason Joan became what she was now? Was it all her fault?

“But that won’t matter if you accept my offer,” Joan went on. “We can be friends! We can share Jane and she’ll love us equally! More than she ever has before!”

_Jane._

The entire reason why Kitty was there flashed back in her mind. She shook her head as if she were trying to jar loose the parts of her that were actually considering taking the offer.

“No. It’s not real.” She grit.

“Of course it’s real.” Joan said. “Here. Let me show you.”

She waved a talon and, suddenly, Kitty’s copper bracelet began to tremble. Hot pink spikes erupt from the skin on her arm, traveling up and growing across her shoulders and head and spine and legs until half of her skin is eaten away by scales and feathers and fur. A furry tail slithered out from her waist, flicking lazily off of the side of the stool. She even felt wings sprout from her back and flap wildly in the air. She was absolutely dazzled by her new appearance and scrambled out of her seat to marvel at herself in a mirror Joan conjured up.

“Oh my god,” She whispered in amazement. “You really did it!”

“Well, of course!” Joan grinned at her. Even Henry was giving her one of his rare real smiles, although it didn’t sit well with her.

“This is incredible,” Kitty said, turning her pink talons over to examine each claw.

“Although, pink is a little bright for a god.” Joan teased. “You’ll get magic, too. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? You could bring back the men who wronged you and exact revenge on them!”

She would like that. She really, really would. She just wondered what her claws could do to THEIR throats…

And yet…

“So?” Joan said. “What do you say?”

Kitty looked up at herself in the mirror again, gazing at the body that held all the power and greatness she’s ever wanted, then turned to Joan and said, “No.”

Joan’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Oh, that’s not the right answer.”

She flicked her tail and Kitty’s body modifications were stripped from her abruptly. It felt as though her skin was being grated off and someone was pulling out each individual spike and horn and wing and tail with burning hot pliers. She staggered, struggling to catch her breath through the sudden barrage of pain.

“That leads to bad, bad things, Howard.” Joan said. She flexed her talons on the table, as though she was already preparing to have them cut Kitty up into dozens of tiny pieces. Henry set his tail over one of them comfortingly, and then leered at Kitty.

“I don’t want to hurt people.” Kitty said.

“Did I ever say you would?” Joan growled. Her floating milky way of gemstones suddenly spun together out of control, whirling into a kaleidoscope of flashing colors. It was speeding with Joan’s growing rage. “I am not a monster. And I wasn’t planning on making you one, either. I just want FRIENDS, Howard! I have everything but that, and I just want to share a fraction of what I have now with them!” Her shoulder spikes bristle upwards like an agitated porcupine. “Even with you. Annoyingly.”

Kitty narrowed her eyes at Joan. She absentmindedly felt the copper bracelet still clasped around her wrist and considered taking it off, but decided against it when she realized that Joan could attack her at any moment and kill her without it on.

Joan got up and began pacing around the room, lashing her tail and she went back and forth, back and forth. She stops for just a moment, extending a talon for Henry to climb back around her neck, and then continues her anxious walking.

“I don’t know why I expect you to understand.” She finally seethed, casting a dark look at Kitty. “You have everything. A family, a mother, fame, fortune, people who actually give a shit about you.”

“You’re evil, Joan.” Kitty said. “That’s why you don’t get any of that stuff.”

That was the wrong thing to say to a livid monstrous god, but at least Kitty had been right about the bracelet decision, because Joan suddenly lunged at her, knocked her against the wall with her powerful tail, and ripped out her heart.

Kitty’s vision becomes black and grey, aside from her shuddering heart and the crimson blood that drips from it. Everything around her blurs together, but she can still see Joan’s horrified expression and Henry’s sinister smirk.

And then her heart is shoved back into the gouge in her chest. She can feel the arteries and veins slither back into place, binding the organ to its position. The skin mends magically, as it had done the first two times, but a messy starburst-shaped scar is still left behind.

Joan stumbles backwards, staring at her bloody talons. There is genuine fear and guilt in her eyes- it was clear she never had any plans of actually killing people during her reign. And lashing out like that scared her.

She cleans her stained claws frantically while Henry licks her ear gently and soothes her. Kitty struggled to get up as this went on, but suddenly froze when she heard a noise outside in the dim hallway. In came a beautiful woman swathed in jewelry and studded with monstrous body parts.

She was wearing a luscious silver silk dress that seemed to glow iridescent thanks to the number of jewels she was loaded with. Moon-like earrings dangle from her feathery, pointy ears and a silver wire bracelet with three ebony orbs is clasped around her right wrist. Pearl and topaz and opal necklaces dangle from around her neck, but there was one in particular with a beautiful sapphire pendant on a sterling lace. Elegant white horns were wound with strings of emerald; veils of ice blue diamond wreathed angel-like wings. She even had a tail band on her long, majestic tail, which was silver and designed to look like talons clutching every inch of her tail with sapphire-tipped claws.

It was Jane, Kitty realized. Even under all those jewels, it was still her mother. She was about to run to her, but Joan beat her to it.

“Mama!”

Jane’s wings and arms open and close around Joan, holding her in a way that sent zigzags of envy throughout Kitty. She wondered if this was what Joan always felt, and how she dealt with it for so long because it honestly was terrible.

“There’s my beloved little disaster,” Jane cooed lovingly, placing a kiss on Joan’s forehead. Another lightning bolt of jealousy ripped through Kitty’s insides.

“Jane,” She called out. “What’s wrong with you?”

Jane looked over at her with a hard gaze she’s only seen been used on Joan. It startled her and stumbled back, as if she had been punched in the stomach by her stare.

“Nothing is wrong with me, Howard.” Jane said, flicking her tail. She wrapped one wing around Joan protectively, who leaned giddily into her side. “I think you’re the messed up one here.”

Kitty is stunned at the cruelty she’s being hit with. She took another step back. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears.

“What did you do to her?!” She growled, glaring at Joan. “Turn her back!”

“I didn’t do anything.” Joan hissed. “Mum has opened up a lot more ever since she left. She realized that there’s other people in this world than you. I just helped her realize that, and she doesn’t need you anymore.”

“That’s right.” Jane nodded, sending the jewels decorating her horns into a symphony of jingles and jangles.

“Mum— She’s not your mum! She’s mine!” Kitty cried, almost whined.

“God, you are so selfish.” Joan spat. She nuzzled closer to Jane, who held her protectively like she used to with Kitty. “Jane loves ME. I am HER DAUGHTER.” She sent Kitty a dark glower. “Not you.”

Kitty can only open and close her mouth rapidly like a shocked fish that had just been reeled out of the water. Joan wrinkled her nose at her and then turned her full attention back to Jane, who has begun to stroke her short, tangled hair lovingly.

“I need to brush this mane of yours,” Jane mused. “It is a mess! I can’t have my precious baby looking like a mess, can I?”

“No, mama,” Joan said.

“That’s right.” Jane nodded with a dreamy smile. “You are the most perfect princess, my sweet girl.”

“STOP!” Kitty cried. Her hands are clamped over her head. A single unbidden tear has escaped from her eyes. “Stop it, please! Stop!”

Jane scowled at her. It makes all the tears come free.

“Stop yapping,” Jane barked. “And stop crying! I will never be your mother and you will never be my daughter. Get that through your head.” She huffed. “I’d rather die than have someone like you as a child.”

Wait-

Kitty has heard that before.

She drew in a shocked breath when she realized that Joan had Jane enchanted to see Kitty like she had seen her, because she knew those words were the ones Jane had said the day before Joan lost herself to the darkness.

At the time, she wasn’t phased by it at all, pleasantly oblivious to how cruel and degrading it was, but now that it was directed towards her…

It hurt. It hurt so badly. Like someone was reaching in and ripping apart all the love she held for the silver queen, but those claws belonged to the woman herself. It was Jane maiming her without a care in the world.

Joan noticed Kitty’s revelation and her lips pressed together in a grim line.

“So. Now you know.” She said.

“You got tired of being pushed aside…” Kitty whispered. “You got tired of not being loved…” She clenched her fists against the floor she had crumbled onto. “I can’t…I can’t even imagine what that must be like. I’m so sorry.”

Joan wrinkled her nose. “Don’t apologize. It’s meaningless now.” There are tears in her eyes and they run down her cheeks despite her efforts to ward them off. Jane gently wiped them away and she leaned into the woman’s caring touch.

Kitty wonders how long it’s been since Joan was touched with such concern.

“You don’t get to apologize.” Joan seethed. “You had your chance to be nice. To be a friend.” She slid away from Jane and approached Jane slowly.

“So now you’re going to kill me?” Kitty asked, pressing herself against the wall.

Joan frowned and she suddenly looked very tired and miserable.

“I told you, Howard. I’m not a monster.”

Then, she waved her talon and the bracelet around Kitty’s wrist began to vibrate and grow alarmingly hot.

“I hate your guts.” She said in a drained, tight voice. “You took everything from me. You got everything that I should have had. And I SHOULD kill you for it. I should rip your head off or eviscerate you or impale you with my rocks or burn you alive and dance upon your ashes.”

Her shoulders hunched and she rubbed her eyes.

“But I don’t WANT to do any of that. I want you to be punished, but not like that… I don’t want to be like…” She folded her arms to hug herself tightly.

“You don’t have to,” Kitty said, and she realized her voice was higher, more shrill. She was shrinking, too. She watched in horror as her hands became awkward, fused shapes.

“What are you doing to me?!” She cried.

Joan tipped her head at her with a sad smile.

“Punishing you.”

She watched silently for the rest of the transformation until Kitty was covered by the puddle of fabric her clothes had created when she shrunk out of them. She lifted the shirt and smiled weakly at the scarlet kitten lying on the floor in front of her. She picked it up by the scruff and looked into its dark hazel eyes, then at the copper and tiger’s eye collar now locked around its neck.

“Now your name fits a lot more.” She said wryly in an attempt to joke, but even with a cat brain, Kitty knew she lost all the energy she had earlier. Now she just looked…sad. Really sad.

Joan walked to the back door of the theater and dumped the cat into the alleyway. She nudged it with her foot.

“Go home.” She said. “And don’t come back.” An anguished look settles in her eyes. “I can’t promise I’ll be as merciful next time.”

Then, she slammed the door shut, locked it, and left Kitty to fend for herself on the streets of London.

With her heightened feline hearing, she can hear Joan sobbing inside the theater.


End file.
